WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee (SBC) and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, released the following statement on the third COVID-19-related package being considered by the Senate.

“Our first priority is to do everything possible to keep Marylanders and everyone in this country safe. This is a public health emergency and addressing the health issues, including but not limited to increasing testing capacity, ensuring hospital surge capacity and developing a vaccine, must be paramount. The necessary public health measures that are being put in place to keep us all safe, however, are having a catastrophic financial impact on individuals, families and our economy as a whole.

“I would like to see more of the federal stimulus directed at the workers and small businesses who are getting hit the hardest during this public health crisis. We should focus on ensuring capital to pay your household bills, to pay your workers, to stay open, to stay viable. If we are going to inject such a large cash infusion into the economy, Congress also should be providing more support for the state and local governments and the health care providers and emergency response personnel who have been on the front lines of this battle. They continue to deliver essential services under difficult circumstances, while watching their revenues drop off a cliff with the rest of the economy.

“As Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, I look forward to working with Chairman Rubio on finding the best path forward to support the small businesses who have been most affected by COVID-19 measures. With narrow margins and low reserves, small businesses depend on day-to-day cash flow, which has screeched to a halt. America’s small businesses need capital and they need it fast. My goal is to make sure funds can get directly to the small businesses most affected by the coronavirus, so they can keep their workers on payroll and stay current on their bills.”

Yesterday, Senator Cardin led Small Business Committee Democrats in introducing a broad relief package for small businesses that would provide capital to the small businesses most affected by the public health-related challenges caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Today, he introduced legislation with Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, the Save America’s Main Street Act, which would provide immediate cash flow through a tax rebate, help businesses maintain payroll through a tax credit, and defer estimated tax payments.

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